Ilon Wikland is in the hearts of Estonians

SILVER TAMBUR, Estonian World, March 2020

Ilon Wikland, an Estonian-Swedish artist and illustrator, renowned for her illustrations for the world-famous Swedish children author, Astrid Lindgren, celebrated her 90th birthday on 5 February.

The hard-working and talented woman can look back with satisfaction at her life’s work – generations of children across the world have grown up with her vibrant illustrations. If they have not heard her name, they have surely seen Wikland’s drawings. “Karlsson-on-the-Roof”, “The Bullerby Children”, “Ronia the Robber’s Daughter”, “Lotta on Troublemaker Street”, “Brothers Lionheart” – all these and many other characters from the stories of Swedish children’s author, Astrid Lindgren, have become even more alive and familiar through Wikland’s drawings.

How did a young woman from Estonia come to work with Lindgren? The story of Wikland’s life is very inspiring. It is a story of a brave little girl who overcomes difficulties to become a dedicated, successful and beloved artist.

Ilon Wikland (born Maire-Ilon Pääbo) was born on 5 February 1930 in Tartu, Estonia. Her father was Max Pääbo, a civil engineer; her mother Vida Pääbo-Juse, a painter and textile artist. By the time Ilon started to attend school, the family had moved to Tallinn. After her parents’ divorce in 1939, however, Ilon was sent to live with her grandparents in Haapsalu. A tiny wooden house, next to the town’s St Mary- Magdalen’s Orthodox Church, became here home (her grandfather was a sacrist at the church). Wikland has later said her most beautiful childhood memories are connected to the seaside town of Haapsalu.

In the autumn of 1944, when approximately 80,000 Estonians fled the country in fear of the advancing Soviet troops, 14 ­year-old Ilon was sent to Sweden on a boat with her schoolmate’s family to get away from the war; her father’s family had also already fled there. Ilon has later recalled that the journey that took three days through rough seas, seemed endless and she was pretty ill by the end of it.

(Full story available via link below)

Ilon Wikland’s illustration for Astrid Lindgren’s “The Bullerby Children”.

Ilon Wikland. Photo: Monica Schneider